Jorge Garbajosa: 'Europe has lost leadership in international basketball' / News - Basketnews.com

Jorge Garbajosa believes that Europe has lost its place on the global basketball map, and new ideas are needed. He revealed that he cried tears of happiness after Spain's EuroBasket win last September, which pushed him to go for the FIBA Europe presidency.

Credit: Federación Española de Baloncesto Credit Federación Española de Baloncesto

For the past 7 years, Jorge Garbajosa has been serving as the President of the Spanish Basketball Federation. The former player will now try to become the head of FIBA Europe.

Jorge Garbajosa

Position:PF, SFAge:45Height:206 cmWeight:111 kgBirth place:Madrid, SpainProfileNewsStatistics

Talking about the reasons why he decided to run for the job, Garbajosa revealed that he felt European basketball was losing its grip on international matters.

"I have the feeling, although I highly respect the institutions, that time has not been used well or not as well as it should have been in recent years. I have the feeling that Europe has lost leadership in international basketball in recent years, and I think a new impulse is needed," he told MARCA.

"New ideas, new energy, and a different impulse are needed from the presidency. Europe has to be the engine of basketball in the world. Either we have ceased to be, or we run the risk of ceasing to be," Garbajosa said.

During Garbajosa's tenure, the Spanish men's basketball team won both the FIBA World Cup and the EuroBasket. Meanwhile, the women's national team won two EuroBaskets and came in 3rd in the 2018 FIBA World Cup, matching their best performance in history.

Spain's youth national teams gathered medal after medal in the competitions. Last summer, all eight youth squads played in the finals of their age group, capturing three gold medals and five silvers.

Asked to name his favorite moment from the seven years of presidency, Garbajosa was quick.

"A favorite moment and the one I have cried the most with absolute happiness was in this last EuroBasket. The road was so hard and so beautiful at the same time, seeing the players how they gave themselves up, seeing Sergio [Scariolo] enjoy the greatest challenge he has ever had in his career, to see everyone having fun," he named.

"That day, I locked myself in a room in the pavilion and cried for a long time with happiness," Garbajosa shared. "The entire Lorenzo Brown case... There were very hard moments on this road. Probably that day, I decided to take the step to FIBA ​​Europe."

Garbajosa will run against the current French Basketball Federation's president Jean-Pierre Siutat.

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